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He see such chaos, but much of what he saw below could be blamed on him And that was fine He was ninety-one, paralyzed, strapped in a wheelchair and hooked to oxygen His second stroke seven years ago had al was still alive and even with tubes in his nose his legal stick was bigger than the other eight He was the only legend re irritated most of the mob below

He sat in a small wheelchair in an office on theHis feet touched the edge of the , and he strained forward as the noise increased He hated cops, but the sight of the They stood straight and held ground as the mob of at least fifty thousand screamed for blood

"Biggest crowd ever!" Rosenberg yelled at theHe was almost deaf Jason Kline, his senior law clerk, stood behind hi day of the new term, and this had becolorious celebration Rosenberg was thrilled To him, freedom of speech meant freedom to riot

"Are the Indians out there?" he asked loudly

Jason Kline leaned closer to his right ear "Yes!"

"With war paint?"

"Yes! In full battle dress"

"Are they dancing?"

"Yes!"

The Indians, the blacks, whites, brooays, tree lovers, Christians, abortion activists, Aryans, Nazis, atheists, hunters, animal lovers, white supreers, farripped their black sticks

"The Indians should love me!"

"I'm sure they do" Kline nodded and sy was siovernive them whatever they want

The heckling, praying, singing, chanting, and screaether The croas larger and rowdier than in recent years Things were more tense

Violence had become common Abortion clinics had been bombed Doctors had been attacked and beaten One was killed in Pensacola, gagged and bound into the fetal position and burned with acid

Street fights eekly events Churches and priests had been abused by ays White supreanizations, and had become bolder in their attacks on blacks, Hispanics, and Asians Hatred was now America's favorite pastime

And the Court, of course, was an easy target Threats, serious ones, against the justices had increased tenfold since 1990 The Supreents were assigned to guard each justice, and another fifty were kept busy investigating threats

"They hateout the

"Yes, some of them do," Kline answered with amusement

Rosenberg liked to hear that He shty percent of the death threats were aimed at him

"See any of those signs?" he asked He was nearly blind

"Quite a few"

"What do they say?"

"The usual Death to Rosenberg Retire Rosenberg Cut Off the Oxygen"

"They've been waving those saet some new ones?"

The clerk did not answer Abe should've retired years ago, but they would carry him out one day on a stretcher His three law clerks didhis own opinions He did so with a heavy felt-tip al pad,to write Sloork, but with a lifetime appointment, who cared about time? The clerks proofed his opinions, and rarely found mistakes

Rosenberg chuckled "We oughta feed Runyan to the Indians" The Chief Justice was John Runyan, a tough conservative appointed by a Republican and hated by the Indians and most other minorities Seven of the nine had been appointed by Republican Presidents For fifteen years Rosenberg had been waiting for a Democrat in the White House He wanted to quit, needed to quit, but he could not sto his beloved seat

He could wait He could sit here in his wheelchair and breathe oxygen and protect the Indians, the blacks, the women, the poor, the handicapped, and the environle person in the world could do a da about it, unless they killed him And that wouldn't be such a bad idea either

The great man's head nodded, then wobbled and rested on his shoulder He was asleep again Kline quietly stepped away, and returned to his research in the library He would return in half an hour to check the oxygen and give Abe his pills

The office of the Chief Justice is on the ht The outer office is used for ss, and the inner office is where the Chief works

The door to the inner office was closed, and the room was filled with the Chief, his three law clerks, the captain of the Supreents, and K O Lewis, deputy director, FBI The nore the noise from the streets below It was difficult The Chief and Lewis discussed the latest series of death threats, and everyone else just listened The clerks took notes

In the past sixty days, the Bureau had logged over two hundred threats, a new record There was the usual assortment of "Bomb the Court!" threats, but many came with specificslike names, cases, and issues

Runyanfrom a confidential FBI suroups suspected of threats The Klan, the Aryans, the Nazis, the Palestinians, the black separatists, the pro-lifers, the homophobics Even the IRA Everyone, it seeroup backed by the Iranians had threatened blood on American soil in retaliation for the deaths of two justice ministers in Tehran There was absolutely no evidence the murders were linked to the US A new doround Are in Texas with a car bomb No arrests had been made, but the UA claimed responsibility It was also the pris of ACLU offices, but its as very clean

"What about these Puerto Rican terrorists?" Runyan asked without looking up

"Lightweights We're not worried," K O Lewis answered casually "They've been threatening for twenty years"